A Chapter After The Story
by Shu Ling
Summary: Eras after the cast of Kingdom Hearts finished their adventures, a world was assulted by creatures known as Heartless. With little more than some knowledge of history, the people of this world must find a way to recover the heart lost by one of their one.


Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix and Disney and whoever else. I _do_, however, own the characters and the world(s) mentioned in this fanfiction.

WARNINGS:  
This takes places place centuries after the entire KH series, so no canon characters will manifest him/herself.  
All characters are original characters.  
There will be no keyblades or gummi ships.  
There will only be one (two if you stretch a few thing... xP) world.

A Chapter After The Story

Chapter One:

It was one of those days at Xian Temple, one of _those_ days where the nearby river flooded and the rice farmers in the area cheered for joy while students and teachers at the Temple wept as everything that is not three feet above ground level ended up soggy and wet. Presumably, everyone would be locked tightly in their rooms, where the doors and walls are spelled and spelled again to prevent water from drenching their personal possessions. Of course, at Xian Temple, it is unwise to presume anything, especially during the wet season. Those who graduated and are serving as part of a five-man team of mercenaries and part-time soldiers seem to find themselves training particularly hard during this time of year. Alix found himself wishing, not for the first time, for his warm bed and a game of chess. He also found himself cursing his team leader for making him work during the wet season.

Alix glared at the wall next to him. He and one of his teammates, Cyroura Tristozus, were patrolling as an added precaution after the recent war. After all, Xian Temple had been of the major players in the war and it was very probable that the Temple might be attacked by extremists or suicidal maniacs. Alix glared heatedly at the thick, moss-infected water while the other hummed softly to herself, completely oblivious to the soupy water as she walked, somewhat clumsily, in the mandatory tall rubber boots.

The male of the two glanced yet again at his partner and sighed. "How, Roura? How is it possible for you to be so damn—"

"Alixander, language!" Roura chastised, "Even if you are grouchy, you have no right to ruin the good mood of others!" With that and a flip of her hair, Roura continued to hum, leaving a very annoyed Alix glaring at the dirty water yet again.

"Alright," he began again, "How can you so cheerful when the entire Temple's buried in three feet of swamp water!?" Alix all but yelled. He glared at his partner, who was still humming, and groaned. A few seconds later, while Roura was ignoring him, he tapped his communicator earring and murmured, "Lisa…please save me."  
A voice chuckled over the communicator, "Can't stand being partnered with Roura anymore, huh? I still remember a time when you were head over heels with her! What happened?"

"Her obliviousness, that's what. She's older than I am! How is it that she can still…still…" Alix waved his free hand frantically, trying to find the word he wanted to use.

"Still ignorant? Foolish? Stupid?" a second, more masculine voiced answered and Alix shook his head.

"Not…quite what I was going for." He chanced a glance at his partner, who was still humming to herself and completely oblivious to the conversation Alix was having with the rest of the team, sans their leader, of course.

"I think 'naïve' will sum her up a bit better," Lisa continued. "Adrian, are you_ still_ going on about her heritage?"

Adrian growled over the communicator, and Alix winced. Adrian's growls sounded far too real, even when he was in human form. "She is still a Royal," Adrian answered, "And yes, I still do not believe that her naïveté and her foolish ignorance will last once she ascends to her throne. Additionally, I cannot stand her even as she is now."  
Alix was silent for a moment. Personally, he had a hard time believing that anyone could dislike Roura; she was the epitome of kindness and generosity and he knew that many saw Roura as the kind of ruler that has long left this war torn world. Of course, Adrian was a perfect example of someone who disliked the gentle princess. "…I say you are bitter," Alix finally responded when he realized that Lisa was staying silent. "Or maybe I should say you are still bitter. When are you going to let go?"

More silence followed and after a minute, Alix heard Lisa clear her throat, "Adrian, my friend, I think your paranoia has once again gone into overdrive."

"…Pardon?" Was Adrian's indignant response and Alix chuckled.  
"Yes, as a matter of fact," Lisa continued, "I think it's your stomach. Well, that's easily taken care of."

"Ah, wait, Lisa, I am most certainly not—" And Alix found himself laughing even harder when he heard muffled shouts, what sounded like some fighting, and finally, a very distinctive yelp from Adrian and a cackle from Lisa.

"Lisa, do save some for us, our shift ends in fifteen minutes." Alix finally said once he stopped laughing. He glanced at Roura again, who was poking something in the water with an arrow.

"Sure can do!" Lisa chirped, "And don't you complain, Wolf, _I'm_ the one paying for lunch, not you." There was another yelp of complaint and Alix found himself laughing yet again. It was most certainly an interesting relationship Lisa and Adrian, or Wolf, had, even if they were of two completely different species.

Just as Alix turned off his communicator Roura lightly touched his shoulder, "Alix, I think there is something in the water," she murmured.

"This is swamp water," Alix answered and made a face, "there would be things in the water." He looked at Roura carefully; she seemed a bit paler than usual, which was a feat in itself as Roura had very pale skin to begin with. Was she scared? It wouldn't be the first time; Roura was not like Lisa; Roura gets scared rather easily.

"But…they look like Adrian's shadow Scouts…with glowing yellow eyes…" Roura explained and pointed at a strange, four—legged creature bobbing its head up and down in the water. The creature's antennae wiggled back and forth and Roura clung tighter onto Alix's arm.

For a moment, Alix found himself in heaven. The most beautiful female in all of Xian was clinging onto him! Thankfully, that's about as far as the thought got as Alix's body was no longer that of a hormone raging adolescent's. Alix shook his head and chuckled, amused. If only he had a camera, just because he was twenty didn't mean he couldn't go gloat to his friends, especially when said friends were all male and had something of a crush on one Cyroura Tristozus. Finally, he turned his attention to the strange creature and answered, "That's no Scout, Scouts are made purely of the shadows; they can't have yellow eyes. What…what is that?" Alix took a closer look at the creature and watched it seem to look back at him. He blinked, somewhat unnerved, not that he'd ever admit it to Roura, of course.

"It's dark, like Adrian, but…different. I…I don't know how to describe it, but I think that we should leave it alone…"

Alix nodded, "Alright, then," and with one fluid motion, he unsheathed his sword and cut the creature in two. The creature seemed to dissipate and a shining crystal heart floated away. Alix blinked and took a few moments to temporarily shove his question of the floating heart to the back of his mind. "There, all done! Now let's continue, just fifteen more minutes and Lisa's buying lunch!"

Roura smiled, "Okay. I am a little hungry," She let go of Alix's arm and took out her bow and an arrow. He was more than positive that the appearance of the strange shadow creature put her on guard. Alix shook his head and, just as he was about to sheath his sword, two more creatures seemed to phase into existence. Roura quickly released an arrow at one of the two creatures and Alix, somewhat clumsily, disposed of the second one.

Alix cleared his throat, trying to make up for his awkward form, "Well, that was unexpected. Should we report this?"

Roura nodded as she notched another arrow, "That would be wise."  
"Alright, you make the call; I'll keep watch." It was how he and Roura usually worked; after all, Roura was a long-range fighter, and unfamiliar with defending herself against close-ranged attacks. He protected her while she picked off the enemy one at a time; in this case, he protected her while she called for backup.

Roura tapped her earring as Alix turned his attention to his surroundings. Who knew when those shadow things might pop up again? He heard Roura say, "Silver? This is Cyroura Tristozus…" and Alix heard no more as three creatures phased into existence just as the last few had. He quickly disposed of the creatures and called over his shoulder,  
"Roura, hurry it up! I think they're multiplying." Just as Alix finished, a mass of creatures appeared. Not just four or five as Alix expected, but so many that he stopped counting once he reached twenty. "Oh…damn…"

"ALIXANDER! Language!"

Alix just cursed again.

* * *

"Really, Wolf, you need to stop it," Lisa grumbled as she stuffed a piece of beef into her mouth, "It's been three—" 

"It is rude to talk with your mouth full," Adrian interrupted and Lisa swallowed.  
"We've been working with Roura for three years now," she continued, "You've worked with Roura for three years, hell; you've even saved her ass, what, twice? Yet you still express distrust and dislike towards her. Why?" Lisa was all but shouting now; she was leaning forward over the small, table for two, her face was only a few inches from Adrian's.

Adrian glared, "Lisa, we're in a restaurant!" He growled and Lisa blinked. She looked around and realized that people were staring. With a sheepish grin, she sat back down and Adrian sighed, "I dislike Roura for what she will become and who she is now. Besides, Roura will have to face the fact that once she is queen, there will be people who will not like her."

Lisa paused, "So you are being cruel to be kind?" She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, "Damn, Wolf, you've been spending too much time with my brother."

Adrian chuckled, "No, that is not it. I do have a problem with _her royal highness_," the brutal sarcasm in his voice was so evident that Lisa almost felt the heat of his words. "Her ignorance has put us all in danger far more than once."

"So you dislike her because she's something of a trouble magnet." Lisa picked up another piece of beef with her chopsticks and waited for a response.

After a few seconds, Adrian finally nodded, "It is not so much that she is a trouble magnet, it is the fact that she is both a trouble magnet and the crown princess of a major country. She is quite the liability." He paused and attacked his steak before continuing. "Think about it, if anything were to happen to the heiress of the Tristozuan throne, Xian Temple will be blamed and Tristozus may very well break off any and all relationships with our Temple. Furthermore, we will bear the brunt of the blame because she was placed on our team."

Lisa nodded and smirked at the agitated expression on her friend's face. "That makes sense," she chuckled, "and here I thought you disliked politics."

"I do," he growled, "but Roura's clueless, Alix cannot seem to use his expert chess skills anywhere but on the board and in the field, Nevom sees not just politics, but_ life_ as a game—"

"The guy's over two thousand," Lisa interrupted, "you've got to give him _some_ slack!"

Adrian just glared and Lisa grinned. "Also," he continued, as if Lisa never interrupted, "I would not trust you anywhere near politics and your brother seems to stay as far away from the subject as possible."

Now Lisa laughed out loud, "Is that because I got myself thrown in jail that one time?"

Adrian snorted, "Not only were you arrested, but you denounced the king whom the people worship like a god! Where was your common sense at the time, woman?"  
Lisa glared for a moment before she reached across the table and slapped Adrian on the head. Adrian just chuckled, "At the very least, you can take care of yourself when your common sense fails you."

Lisa raised an eyebrow as she settled back in her seat, "So you're implying that Roura can't? She's quite deadly with a bow and a quiver of arrows."

"Unlike you, it seems like Roura was born without any common sense at all." Adrian continued, "Furthermore, her lack of good judgment has nearly gotten her killed while the worst you have ever done was to try, and fail, to be a politician. Roura was almost assassinated on four different occasions because she virtually walked right into the assassin's arms! She's more troublesome than Nevom. He's only annoying and hard to work with; she, as I said before, is a liability not only to our team, but to the entire Temple." He stabbed his steak viciously with his chopsticks and growled.

Lisa just shook her head as she watched Adrian take his anger out on his food before beginning to eat again. It was nice, she thought, that Adrian was willing to open up to her. Now that she thought about it, she was probably the only one Adrian even talked so freely to. Of course, this could be because Adrian felt closest to Alix, his brother Azrial, and herself and Alix tended to be more argumentative than her. A loud beeping sound brought Lisa, rather abruptly, out of her daydream.

"Yes…?" Lisa tapped her earring to open the communication.  
"Sister," her brother's voice echoed into her ear and Lisa suddenly found herself incredibly nervous. Silver never calls unless it was something extremely important. "Adrian," Silver continued, "I'm sure you will be elated to know that Alixander and Cyroura are currently under attack near the eastern wall and—" Lisa didn't hear a word after that for she had dashed off, barely noticing Adrian throwing some money on the table and running after her.

"Silver!" Lisa called once she spotted her brother near the eastern wall fighting off numerous small black creatures with yellow eyes. Every few moments Silver would coat the surrounding creatures in ice and destroy the monsters on a mass scale. Lisa whistled, "Nice, but, Alix and Roura…" Lisa looked around and back fisted a random creature that jumped at her, "Where are they?"

"They were somewhere over there," Silver answered as he nonchalantly waved one of his two blades to his left. "Roura sounded rather strained—" once again, Lisa tuned her brother out as she dashed towards the direction he indicated.

"Outta my way!" Lisa ordered as she threw and exploded one of her many paper talismans and sent numerous yellow—eyed monsters flying. "Roura! Alix!" She shouted. Where are they? How was it so hard to spot Alix in his obnoxious red armor or Roura and her overly pastel clothes, especially in all this black! Lisa growled in annoyance and exploded three more talismans, savoring some small satisfaction as she watched the creatures scramble in a futile attempt to escape her blasts.

"Lisa!" Adrian voice came from a little behind her. Lisa kicked a few creatures away as she spun around.

"What?" she cried as she grabbed on to one of the creature by its antennae and threw it into the mass of black. She smirked as her partner drove his katana through three beasts at once.

"I think I felt some Light magic up ahead! Roura and Alix are definitely close by," Adrian answered. He sent threads of shadow magic into the crowds of creatures and Lisa immediately Hacked into the threads of shadow magic and let her own magic flow into the threads.

Lisa smirked and mentally thanked Adrian. "Alright you crazy black invaders," she began as she began molding the magic in Adrian's shadow threads, "you lot better be ready for an EXPLOSION!" And with a swing of her hand, a series of explosions wrecked havoc among the ranks of the black monsters along the threads of dark magic that Adrian placed. Lisa tried to catch her breath as she let Adrian fend off the remaining creatures too close for her comfort. She mentally cursed herself for leaving her staff, which contained at least a fourth of her magic, back in her room.

"Well," she began again once she could speak, "At least I can see Alix now," she pointed to the young man in a right red armor defending a young women with a bow and a quiver of arrows.

"At least they are alright, "Adrian agreed as he sliced through another creature.  
Alix looked up and waved. Lisa grinned in return. "Alix!" She shouted and raced, as best she could, over to her friends.

"Lisa! Adrian!" Alix greeted, "Where's Silver? Wasn't he here a minute ago?" Roura nodded and shot an arrow through one of the black things.

"He's somewhere behind us," Lisa answered as she looked her friends up and down. Alix and Roura didn't seem injured, a bit winded, yes, but overall okay.

"Most likely keeping these creatures away from the students and non-combatants," Adrian said.

Alix nodded and drove a few creatures away with this large sword, "Makes sense. Let's get out of here before these…things…multiply again."

"No!"  
Lisa blinked, Alix spun around to face Roura and Adrian shook his head with an exasperated sigh.

"We can't just leave," Roura continued, "what if—" whatever she was about to say was cut off as Roura suddenly stiffened and began to fall forward.

"Roura!" Alix and Lisa yelled simultaneously as they raced towards their falling friend as what looked like a sparkling crystal heart floated away. Alix caught Roura with both arms and Lisa growled in absolute fury. With an aggressive yell, she smash kicked a creature that was on Roura's back and most likely the perpetrator of the attack.

"Dam it!" Lisa cursed. She knelt next to Alix, who was trying to bring Roura back from unconsciousness. "What happened?"

"She lost her heart, apparently," Adrian finally spoke and Lisa's head snapped up. She had forgotten that he was there.

"What?!" Alix cried as Lisa demanded, "How?!"  
Adrian paused, one hand touching his communication earring, "According to Silver, these black creatures," he kicked one for emphasis, "are called the Heartless and they steal people's hearts. That crystal heart that flew out of Roura? That was most likely our lovely princess' heart." He snorted, "Just like her to place the Temple in a delicate situation."

"Adrian Shuling!" Alix declared as he clutched Roura's body closer, "How could you—"

"It is the truth, is it not?" Adrian snapped, "She, in her damned self-righteousness and stupidity, has yet again endangered the Temple—"

"Enough!" Lisa interrupted, glaring heatedly between her two conscious friends. Both Adrian and Alix glared back evenly. "Let's go to our regular briefing room. We can argue and discuss things there, not while we are still," Lisa stomped on one of the creatures, a Heartless; she reminded herself, crushing it to the ground, "surrounded by these…these vile monsters!" She grabbed her earring, "Brother!"

"Yes?" The calm voice of one Silver Hellstorm said through the earring.  
"Meet us at the briefing room, we'll be there—"

"Expecting explanations!" Alix finished; he had also taken hold of his own earring.

"…Very well," Silver answered, "We will be there."  
"We…?" Lisa asked with a raised eyebrow and looked at Adrian. Adrian shrugged.

"Does it matter?!" Alix cried and Lisa finally found herself acknowledging that he actually sounded quite panicked. She and Adrian shared another look before Alix continued to shout into the communicator, "Yes, she has a body; we'll be at the briefing room in ten minutes!" With that, Alix lifted Roura's body into his arms and dashed off.

"…Well…" Lisa began a few moments later, somewhat surprised, "I say he still likes her, no matter how much he denies it."

Adrian nodded, "And I say that you are correct." He sighed, "I also say that we are sufficiently doomed."

Lisa snorted and rubbed her temples, "No need to be so dramatic, let's just follow him and make sure that in his state of alarm, he doesn't get his own heart stolen."

Adrian nodded, and followed Alix and a much steadier pace than the breakneck speed Alix was running at. Lisa kicked a lone Heartless aside and followed her friend at a light jog.

* * *

Author's notes: 

So, for those of you that actually read this thing (and I know that there'll be very few of you as I used _all_ original characters. No, not _fan_ characters as these characters do have a story, and world, for that matter, of their own) thank you very much for taking the time to do so. I would love a review, if only because I would like to know where I can improve and whether or not my characters seem original. I do plan on writing a purely original story based of these characters, however, I'm still working on the outline for said original story and I was actually able to finish outlining this fanfiction in one day, thus, I thought I'll just take the opportunity to explore my characters a bit more.

Accusations that my characters are Mary-Sues with no explanation/evidence as to why shall be ignored.

Accusations of bad/cliched plot with no explanation/evidence as to why shall also be ignored.

Spelling/grammar errors will be corrected immediately.

Compliments are loved, but constructive critisism is loved even more. xD

I...think that's all. I hoped that you enjoyed this story. xD

Thank you to my lovely Beta CooperStar of DeviantArt and my real life friends who helped me out with this chapter. xD


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